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I'm Just starting with animation, and I need to self-teach. Which software should I use?

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I'm Just starting with animation, and I need to self-teach. Which software should I use?

Hello all,

My apologies if this is in the wrong thread, I'm new here!

I'm looking for insight on what software to use to get acquainted with animation.

I'm a college student, going to a liberal arts school. They have an art degree, but not a whole lot of variety in their art classes. I want to self-teach as much as possible, then consider transferring to an art school. However, being a college student, I can only afford so much.

Here's the deal: I currently own Toon Boom Harmony Stage 10.3, Studio Ghibli's OpenToonz, and Adobe Animate CC. As of now, I can't obtain Harmony 12/14.

Which of these softwares should I use to get my foot in the door? Or do you have any other recomendations?

For a bit of background: I have about a decade experience in digital art. I currently specialize in digital painting, usually with Paint Tool SAI and Photoshop. The extent of my animation experience is pretty much bare-minimum. I've made flipnotes on Flipnote Hatena and put together some simple PVs on Sony Vegas, but that's about it.

Any advice at all would be so appreciated. Thanks so much.

  I do not see any problem

  I do not see any problem with using the software you have now. If you wont to expand what you have, you could get Blender for free.

It really depends

I had the same problem and after hours of research I realized that it doesn't matter what software you use. It just depends what your goal in Animation is.

Blender is free and its good for freelance but if you want to do something professional then Maya or 3Ds Max. 

If I had to say choose 3Ds max since its mostly used for Environmental Design and requires Photoshop and digital painting experience. Like Matte Painting. But yeah I don't see the problem with your softwares if your planning 2D...

https://youtu.be/gVbVaMTRl3c 

For something more advance https://youtu.be/FXcrlR1pOo4

But if you want character animation then its Maya 

Don't worry if its too much $. I think it might be applicable for Blender or you can try downloading the trial for Max or find some way to get it on YouTube. There are also simpler ways where you might not need Max and just photoshop. Anyways good luck and tell me what you think

 

2D or 3D?

I would advise you to try out anything that you can get for free. I assume you can register for an Autodesk account. As for which software to use I would reccomend TvPaint, Maya, Blender, AfterEffects and PhotoShop to start with. there is tons of free tutorials and videos online. Make sure to check as many as you can.
You can check out this article for more info http://animataurus.com/best-animation-software/